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Introduction "...need to observe the methodology employed instead of the
classic academic divisions." (pg 5) "...the anthropology of islam
(AOI), today, cannot be other than
global..." (p.5)
e.g. Muslims --
transnational networks Essentialism
(Fallacy of the 'Muslim mind theory) "...argues that
religion induces Muslims to believe, behave, act. think, argue and
develop their identity as Muslims despite their disparate heritages,
ethnicities, nationalities, experiences, gender, sexual orientations
and, last but not least, mind." (p.6) See:
Geaves, R. (2005) The Dangers of Essentialism: South Asian Communities in
Britain and the "World Religions" Approach to the Study of Religions,
Contemporary South Asia 14(1) p.75-90
"... emotions and feelings should be at the centre of
our studies of Islam ...[fieldwork] ... should incorporate an
analysis of the emotional context within which we operate ... [t]his
means refocusing our attention to how human beings make sense of the
'map' that we call Islam ... to observe interpretations
of Islam as part of networks of shared meanings ... to observe
concepts ... as the result of interpretations affected by personal
identity, emotions, feelings, and the environment..." (p.6)
"We should start from Muslims, rather than Islam ... the main thing
Muslims share among themselves ... is the fact they are human
beings." (p.7) AOI -- Islam: "...a
map of discourses on how to 'feel
Muslim'. (p.8) "We need to reconsider the
relationship between scientific disciplines and anthropology ...
viewing culture as a special feature, essential to the definition of
the human being, may invite us to consider ...whether culture is
irredeemably essentialist in itself." (p.9) See:
Wikan, U. (1999) Culture: A New Concept of Race,
Social Anthropology 7(1) p.57-64
From Studying Islam to
Studying Muslims
The Beginnings of Anthropology
Bronislaw Malinowski
(1884 -1942) ...participant observation aka fieldwork
Franz Boas (1858-1942) ...cultural anthropology (USA)
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955) ...social anthropologist (UK),
structural functionalism.
 Studying Islam:
Orientalism
Edward Said (1978) Orientalism
(London Penguin)
German Orientalists, e.g. Goldziher"...studied Islam in the same way
as classic Greek or Latin cultures." (p.33)
"Orientalists saw real Muslims, in flesh and bone, as irrelevant."
(p.33)
Books 'n' Bats:
Orientalism Middle East Studies
"...focused on political, economic and strategic analysis ...
anthropologists, avoiding the political debate, ghettoized
themselves in the villages..." (p.34)
 Geertz &
Gellner
Clifford
Geertz's Islam Observed (1968);
Ernest Gellner's Muslim Society (1981) - both
important precursors to a satisfactory anthropology of Islam, but
ultimately flawed. See:
D. Varisco (2004) Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of
Anthropological Representation (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan)
Gilsenan
Michael Gilsenan, Recognizing Islam (1982) "...seminal
book succeeded in avoiding essentialism..." (p.38)
Constitute a "valid start" in the foundation of the anthropology of
Islam.
Two key methodological elements in a sociological analysis of Islam:
First, to examine the practices and everyday
lives of persons describing themselves as Muslims and the
discourses of authority that are taken for granted or
struggled over; second, to use such an attempt at
understanding to reflect back critically on the ways in
which Westerners in general tended to approach societies in
which such practices, teaching, forms of knowledge and
culture are significant." (Gilsenan, 1982, p.5)
Gilsenan"...reversed Gellner's Eurocentric view of Muslim societies,
and provided a paradigm for understanding Islam as a discourse
within society rather than an essence shaping it." (p.39)
el-Zein
Abdul Hamid el-Zein (1977) 'Beyond Ideology and Theology: the Search for the Anthropology of
Islam', Annual Review of Anthropology, 6,
p.227-54
"...in the midst of this diversity of meaning, is there a single,
real Islam?" (el-Zein, 1977, p.249) Answer - from an anthropological
perspective, no. The idea of "islams".
Asad
Talal Asad rejects el-Zein's "brave effort", in
The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam
(1986), arguing that "...in an anthropological analysis of Islam,
Muslims' theological views could not be ignored." (p.41) Islam =
discursive tradition beginning with Qur'an/Hadith, whereby
anthropology seeks to make sense of historical conditions in which
tradition(s) is(are) produced/maintained. Problems of individual
Muslims knowledge of tradition, disputes within the tradition, etc
-- Asad's stance = "proto-theological paradigm" (p.42)
 Abu-Lughod
Lila
Abu Lughod (1989) 'Zones of Theory in the Anthropology of the Arab
World', Annual Review of Anthropology,
Annual Review of Anthropology, 8
p.267-306. ME anthropology reviewed, highlighting deficiencies
rather than offering a paradigm, identifying three zones of
theorizing: segmentation, the harem and Islam, thus excluding
studies focusing on other areas, e.g. emotions, migration, etc..
Also argued that ME anthropology mired in an ahistoricism producing
"...its own brand of essentialism -- the essentialism of Arab
culture." (Abu Lughod, 1989, p.301).
Lukens-Bull
Ronald A. Lukens-Bull (1999) 'Between Texts and Practice:
Considerations in the Anthropology of Islam'
Marburg Journal of Religion 4(2) p.1-10. Asks the question of
what is being studied, differentiates between theological and
anthropological, posits "central task" of anthropology of Islam = a
comparative study of how
 to
be a Muslim (which he defines as submission to God), a definition
that "...cleverly reconciles both the emic and etic viewpoints"
(p.44), but Marranci argues there is no need to define Islam in
order to study Muslims anthropologically.
Varisco
Daniel Varisco (2005) Islam Obscured. A
rather incomplete and not very anthropologically informed review can
be found
here.
Important issues:
-
impact of colonialism
-
need to extend zones of theorizing
-
global study, including West, defined by
methodology
(Western studies of Islam utilising fieldwork often defined
as sociology)
-
important to ensure participants voice
audible within ethnological research
-
anthropology of Islam more easily defined in
the negative (i.e. it's not theology!)
Anthropologist better to observe "...the dynamics of
Muslim lives expressed through their ideological and rhetorical
understanding of their surrounding (social, natural, virtual)
environment" (p.50)
Studying Muslims in the
West
"...western based ethnographies of Muslim lives
ended in a cultural hermeneutic suggesting Islam as the ultimate
shaper of migrants' lives" (p.53)
Western studies 'zones of theorizing' that are most
prominent:
-
integration, education, gender (the
three most prominent), second generations, Islamism
1970s - ethnic/national original attracted attention
of social scientists, changed in 1980s...
Shift from migrant to settlement populations
Myth of return (Anwar, 1979)
Islam perceived as principle barrier to
integration at the end of 1980s. See especially:
"...in all three 'affairs' and in an exponential
way, the western mass media played a central role in shaping the
debate on Muslims in the west" (p.57)
Research focusing on new generations has
tended to concludes that second generation migrants were "living
between two cultures" (I believed this, until I starting asking
Muslims about it). See e.g. Jacobson, 1998, and the influential use
of identity theory
"My experience of conducting fieldwork among
western Muslims in several European countries has made me
suspicious of monolithic models of identity as well as certain
cultural feminist analyses, which, in an attempt to denounce the
patriarchal oppression of women, ended in representing women as
disempowered passive objects without real will. The authors have
interpreted Islam as a cultural force capable of overwhelming
nature, environment and time." (p.60)
Challenges idea that "cultural features are
unequivocally related to identity." (p61) My (Yakoub's) own view is
that ideas of culture and identity should be used to
illuminate individual Muslim stories and comment on how they may be
indicative of wider trends, rather than suggesting such an
unequivocal relationship! Post 9/11
Problem of anthropologists tending to relatively marginal compared
to other disciplines vis-ŕ-vis the media.
See e.g. Tabsir
blog.
Importance of included variety of perspectives, including the Muslim
voice - see e.g. Abbas (2005)
Pressure to "..advance a counter-hegemonic discourse against
simplifications that affected not only the political but also the
academic discourse" (p.66) Calls for direct
involvement of anthropologists in human rights:
Sluka, J., Chomsky, N., and Price, D., (2002) "'Terrorism' and the
Responsibility of the Anthropologist",
Anthropology Today 18(2) 22-3 Problem of
cultural talk (Mamdani, 2002) where culture is offered as an
explanation, minus e.g. history. Need to place cultural debates in
historical/political context
Mamdani, M. (2002) Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective
on Culture and Terrorism, American
Anthropologist 104(3) p.766-75
"The relationship between history, politics and culture is a complex
one." (p.67) Sundar (2004) "...culturalist
explanation of mass violence had for long time set up an
unacceptable hierarchy of cultures, the heritage of a colonial
past..." (p.67) - in my view, not only when talking about violence!
Fieldwork Among Muslims
 Fieldwork
"central feature of anthropology" (p.71)
Bad example of Muslim anthropology - Rabinow (1977).
"Rabinow was surely an observer, yet too defensive to become a
participant (beyond the sexual indulgences of youth)" (p.73)
Traditional approaches to fieldwork challenged at end of 1980s,
impacting on anthropology of Islam, "...where the voices of the
researched started to be represented and the complex human
relationships between the fieldworker and his or her 'people' were
not only acknowledged but also made an integral part of their
ethnographies." (p.75)
Emotion
Rosaldo (1993)
Argued ethnographer's experience determines level of empathy
Against this - emotion as ecological rather than social
Milton, K. & Svasek, M. [Eds.] (2005) Mixed
Emotions: Anthropological Studies of Feeling (Oxford: Berg)
Muslim = human being who feels Muslim
"Participant observation means taking part in the emotional
processes involving the formation of feelings" (p.85)
Other Issues
Contemporary researchers need to be aware of:
Necessitates a "clear and ethical approach" and the
"development of empathy and emotional participation in the life of
the studied Muslim community" (p.86)
Understanding Muslim
Identities
Concepts of self/identity draw on work of Kay
Milton and Antonio Rosa Damasio
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